The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Charlie, once an unsocial teen, finds himself surrounded by the most interesting group of people. He deals with many problems, and uncovers more as the story continues. Adolescence proves itself to be a time to not only see where you belong--but who you are. Charlie is a wallflower; he absorbs and understands what is going on around him, but chooses not to say much. I think it captures many different aspects of growing up, and puts each challenge in a person. Written in letters to an “anonymous friend” I think it makes it more personal to Charlie. Except during the book, I had to wonder about less than obvious factors. Since it’s completely in his view, who’s to say that’s what his friends were really like, or if they were real at all. Nonetheless, I wouldn’t have cared either way.
While reading it was effortless to put my own friends into the slots of the very diverse characters. This book showed itself to be more than a book--a
masterpiece. I watched the movie previously and loved it, although it didn’t fully capture Charlie’s full personality. In the beginning sentences were
choppy, but as the story continued you could feel a change with him. Only a beautiful author like Chbosky could almost force you to be one with so many complex characters. I was expecting to read this book with no problem and whip up a review in no time; yet I’ve discovered myself dreaming about everyone in this book as if these people were my own friends. Endless thoughts of how I would’ve handled a situation that he faced were consuming my nights. I realized most of his decisions were very similar to how I would have approached the event--whether it be the correct way or not, I’m not sure.
This book has been kind of stereotyped as a “teenage girl book”, and I’m usually not a fan, but this was utterly amazing. I can only thank the writer for creating something so powerful, definitely a new favorite.
Charlie, once an unsocial teen, finds himself surrounded by the most interesting group of people. He deals with many problems, and uncovers more as the story continues. Adolescence proves itself to be a time to not only see where you belong--but who you are. Charlie is a wallflower; he absorbs and understands what is going on around him, but chooses not to say much. I think it captures many different aspects of growing up, and puts each challenge in a person. Written in letters to an “anonymous friend” I think it makes it more personal to Charlie. Except during the book, I had to wonder about less than obvious factors. Since it’s completely in his view, who’s to say that’s what his friends were really like, or if they were real at all. Nonetheless, I wouldn’t have cared either way.
While reading it was effortless to put my own friends into the slots of the very diverse characters. This book showed itself to be more than a book--a
masterpiece. I watched the movie previously and loved it, although it didn’t fully capture Charlie’s full personality. In the beginning sentences were
choppy, but as the story continued you could feel a change with him. Only a beautiful author like Chbosky could almost force you to be one with so many complex characters. I was expecting to read this book with no problem and whip up a review in no time; yet I’ve discovered myself dreaming about everyone in this book as if these people were my own friends. Endless thoughts of how I would’ve handled a situation that he faced were consuming my nights. I realized most of his decisions were very similar to how I would have approached the event--whether it be the correct way or not, I’m not sure.
This book has been kind of stereotyped as a “teenage girl book”, and I’m usually not a fan, but this was utterly amazing. I can only thank the writer for creating something so powerful, definitely a new favorite.